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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

It seems like I have been on a crochet frenzy for the last year and a half. Blankets for almost every member of my family and the venturing into new territory of learning to read patterns and experimenting with all the new stuff I have been learning in the last 6 months. Working nearly everyday, through the frustrations and challenges, tirelessly persevering.

Since my injuries, I have had 3 weeks of light crocheting when I can. The problem is... I have hit a sort of plateau. My desire to sit down and crochet has somewhat waned. I have a tote bag that just needs a strap and yet the desire to make that strap is blah. I have also started a ripple baby blanket and I just don't have the fervor to get'r done, like I once had last year.

I am beginning to think that I might have burnt myself out too fast and furiously. BUT I know myself all to well, that if I was just to stop crocheting altogether, it will just make it even harder to pick it back up again. Oh the conundrum!

Just thought I would share my thoughts of the day. Thanks for listening.

Friday, February 24, 2012

So I haven't posted anything since the 8th. I bet your wondering why, what happened? Did she forget or stop crocheting. Well I didn't forget, I just haven't been able to crochet for the past two weeks but that didn't keep me from trying a whole lot.

Monday 13th...I had started some baby bibs to give to my mother's church for the nursery (Bernat handicrafter Cotton baby crochet bibs and booties)the next day after finishing the dragon. I had them nearly complete but the pattern called for buttons as the closure at the neck. I went and purchased the buttons but hadn't had the time to put them on, plus I was debating if I should even use buttons, to me that was just a little too risky. I finally agreed with some sound advice that buttons were too difficult (for mothers) to mess with and plus they are a choking hazard for infants. So I undid the last portion of the pattern and proceeded to converted them to ties instead. But before I could get them finished I stabbed my hand while messing with an avocado, that put me out of commission for a about 4 days. I slowly managed to finish the set of 7 bibs... 5 stitches, rest, 3 stitches. I thought I would never get them done.

Over the following weekend I used up the leftovers from the bibs to make a hobo bag a.k.a a purse. I didn't follow any pattern, so I guess I should write it down. I'll get busy on that.

Monday 20th...Still in recovery mode from the stabbing of my hand (but on the mend), I decided to take my dogs for a walk and we got attacked by another dog. This pulled my wrist and once again put me out of commission for another 4 days. BUT like the stubborn bull headed gal that I am, I still tried very hard to crochet.

My mom's church nursery loved the bibs so much they requested some more. So another set of bibs were underway. This set of bibs took me all week to get done! Instead of attaching ties to the ends like I did previously, this time I incorporated them into the pattern. At the end of each neck piece before tying off I added a chain of 30. With that in place I was able to do the around trim of the whole bib working the front of the chain and then through the back of the chain, thus creating a tie.

I am currently working on another purse slightly different from the first one but still using the scraps from the last set of bibs.Hope to have it finished in the next few days. Till then...I hope yall gave a great day!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Yes! I finally finished the dragon I was working on. Sad to say I cheated a little. I was having such difficulty putting the legs in place and on straight. It was a total new experience for me, I'm sure a more experienced crocheter wouldn't have had my troubles. I thought if I could just get those legs pinned in place all would be just fine and I could finish sewing them on. Well like I said maybe for someone else! I finally got all different types of glue, the first 3 types of glue didn't work...So I finally broke out the bad boy hot glue gun! I so was nervous that I was going to end up ruining all my hard work.

Let me tell ya....when that first leg stayed in place...I did a jig!! I was smiling from ear to ear and punching the air! My heart was racing from my victorious win of this dragon! LOL! I'm sure if there had been a camera on me it would have had people laughing all over the world! White haired chunky woman wins battle with a dragon! Oh yeah the felling was sublime.

AND then there was the wonderful look on the little boys face when he came to get it...AWESOME!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

What has been going on in my crochet world. Well not a whole lot actually. As most of ya know I have been trying to do this dragon pattern. Needless to say I have come across quite a few problems. Again there is no fault in the pattern itself, it is all me. I admit I am only 6 or so months into being able to read patterns, so problems will arise no matter what cause all writers use some different language. Like some writers (I guess) assume we all know to do a turn chain, so why write it into the pattern....hmmm lets see...cause I need you to!!! LOL!

I have done some guessing along the way with this one but I am totally stumped now. I have sewn on the legs only to see that they are crooked, one foot sitting on its heel and the other pointing out, so I cut them back off (very gently). I tried again, only to see that the legs wont actually stand upright, they spread out and so once again I ripped'em back off. Me and this dragon have tried over and over to cooperate with each other but as of right now, we are not on speaking terms. As you can imagine the attitude I was creating towards this thing really got a little testy! This dragon can fly without wings and legs!! LOL!

I seriously have no clue how to get these legs on and STRAIGHT! Okay something just dawned on me...what if I was to use a crooked upholstery needle and thread instead of yarn and yarn needle. That might help, but it still wont help with getting the legs in place to begin with.

I feel like I have hit a wall with this one and not sure how to proceed.

The sad thing is that the boy next door knows I am doing this dragon for him and every time he lays eyes on me he asks if I'm done yet. I hate to disappoint, so I am wracking my brain to figure it out.